Mobile first display

- [Instructor] One of the neatest features of D2L Brightspace Daylight is its responsive web design, meaning that the layout will automatically adjust to a display device. Here, for example, we have a D2L homepage maxed out to take up the entire screen. In previous versions of the platform, if we adjusted the display size, we'd eventually get a scroll bar right around here at the bottom, and some of the content would always be awkwardly out of frame. In Brightspace Daylight, though, if we adjust the display dimensions, then the display itself will automatically adapt.

For example, here we are at a main course homepage, which has an announcements module and a calendar widget. When we run out of room, the announcements module will get top priority, while the calendar widgets will be pushed down to the bottom of the screen, but everything still retains its basic functionality. You may have noticed, though, that at a certain point, our navigation bar at the top of the screen will go away, or does it? Here in the upper left-hand corner, when scaled down to smartphone size, you'll see a hamburger icon.

If you click on it, all the navigation links pop up in a sidebar menu. The organization hasn't changed, only the display. So to get to Discussions, for example, we just select Discussions and we're taken to a MobileFirst version of the discussion module. Now, it doesn't always work so smoothly. As of this recording, certain tools don't rescale, most notably, the grade book and assignment submissions folders. Nevertheless, it's hard to overstate the value of this feature, you can easily use D2L on a tablet, and urban commuters like me can use D2L on a phone while riding the train.

In a world where both teachers and students are constantly on the move, it's nice to be able to take courses with you.